Neko
by TeresianLion
Summary: no characters from maximum ride are in neko. it's just the fact that there's whitecoats and erasers and the school. in neko, half cat feliciana escapes from the school and is eventually captured by ludwig and gilbert. more AMAZINGLY AWESOME things happen, but i won't tell you because it's not uploaded yet :D it's in my notebook so i still have to type it up. pwease read this! :)
1. Chapter 1

Alarms blared all around her as she ran. Red lighting covered the hallway and a deafening buzz filled her ears. She kept running and running; there was no way in hell she was going to stop until she had escaped. She heard the sound of barking and growling behind her and she glanced back for only a second.

There they were: Erasers. Vicious half-man, half-canine mutants designed with only one mission, and that was to kill. They were used as security guards, and they could appear human when they wished. But they didn't look entirely human - they were taller and had broader chests. Their teeth were slightly larger and their hair always had that dark tint. At any given time, they could will themselves to transform into a hairy wolf creature. They still had a human body, but with wolf features. Like your typical werewolf, except those are fake.

And Erasers are real.

They have incredible speed and strength, and they had almost caught up to her, no matter how fast she ran. Erasers are genetic mutants with canine DNA, and she is a genetic mutant with feline DNA. She has the genes of all feline species, just as the Erasers do with canine DNA. Except they get to choose when they transform, and she does not. She will always have traits that will set her apart from humans: a pair of pointed cat ears on her head that match her medium brown curly hair, a long, silky tail right above her bum that also matches her hair color, sharp teeth, and claws. She can also purr, roar, growl, and hiss along with making normal human sounds like talking and laughing. She has amazing agility and strength, but her IQ is no higher than normal. Her speeds can reach up to sixty miles per hour, thanks to her Cheetah genes. The Erasers have an unknown top speed, but they could probably reach anywhere above sixty, because right now they were closing in on her.

She turned a corner, but only to find a dead end. She stopped abruptly and almost ran into the wall. When she heard growling and maniacal laughter behind her, she turned on her heel and gasped in horror as she saw the Erasers, half morphed, closing in on her.

"You've got nowhere to run and nowhere to hide," one of them snarled. "Now if you'll just come quietly, we promise we won't hurt you." He looked to his colleagues and they laughed.

"Like hell!" She spat. "I'm not going anywhere with you guys! I'm getting out, away from this place!"

The Eraser who spoke tried his best to hide a smirk that was growing on his lips. "But no one will accept you out there," he tried to sound soothing, though he didn't mean it. "Look at yourself. You're a freak."

"Speak for yourself!" She interrupted, but was ignored.

"People on the outside don't like freaks. They'd kill you." They slowly stepped closer to her.

She took a step back and pressed herself against the wall. "They're killing me here! These tests, it's worse than torture! Surely you had to go through them?!"

"Oh yes, we did, and they only made us stronger!" He flexed his large biceps. "But enough talk" - he and the other three Erasers walked towards her slowly - "it's time for you to get back into your crate." They all growled at her and had finished morphing, drool dripping from their large and dangerous mouths.

Quickly, she scanned the area around her, frantically looking for a way out. Then she spotted it: all the Erasers were packed closely together, except for the one on the end. There was a gap between him and the other three that was larger than the rest. She could run through it and away to freedom.

As soon as the Eraser closest to her lunged, she kicked off the wall and leapt up and over him, scratching the top of his head and pushing off of him as she did so. With the help of his head, she was able to leap even further and landed right in between the gap. She ran through it, hitting sixty miles per hour in less than two seconds. She might not have the IQ of a genius, but she still had her cat-like reflexes. She smirked to herself as she left the four Erasers to stand there dumbfounded as they tried to process what had just happened. A second later, they all ran after her and the chase had started up again.

Except now she had a way out. There was a window - a large one not protected by metal bars - up ahead. Except she couldn't see it. How she knew? Her senses are heightened, and not just because of the feline genes. They - the whitecoats - injected her with...something else when she was a developing fetus. It enables her to see or hear anything within a five mile radius. These senses, unlike her appearance, she can turn off and on. But right now she needed them. She ran and sharply turned a corner, her heels and palms sliding against the linoleum. She winced but didn't slow down one bit. She kept running and was almost hit by a door that swung open, but she leapt to the right just in time and she breezed past it. She turned another corner and halted immediately.

There must've been twenty Erasers between her and the window, all in the second-story lobby. There was a whitecoat in the front of the crowd, and the mere sight of him made her stomach churn.

As it turns out, stopping was a bad idea. A very bad idea. Before she knew what had happened, she was pushed from behind and onto the floor. A heavy weight stuck to her back and help her arms firmly behind her back. She fell flat, her face squished against the linoleum. She struggled the best she could, trying to get free of the Eraser holding her down. His grip was extremely tight, and she wouldn't be surprised if her wrists were already purple.

"DAMMIT! LET GO!" She shrieked, trying to claw the Eraser.

"Language, please," the whitecoat said, stepping forward. He stopped when his shoes were right in front of her face.

"Fuck you!" She yelled, then spit on his shoes. Pity, they looked expensive too.

The whitecoat kicked her in the face. "I said, /language/!" She winced as she felt a sharp pain and blood trickle down her nose. But it wasn't anything new; she was used to this. The whitecoat sighed. "Number 00-5673, what is this? Your sixth - no, seventh - escape attempt? You're lucky that you're suck a successful specimen, otherwise you'd've been retired by now."

She shivered at the word 'retired'. Here, at the School, mutants or 'genetically enhanced' individuals who failed or are not needed for further tests are executed. But instead of just saying that, they use the word 'retired'. Why they do that, she isn't exactly sure. And yes, her name was Number 00-5673. But she doesn't like that name. She doesn't like it one bit; it only reminds her that, to these people, all she is is an item. A useless item that had no effect on their lives whatsoever. And she is NOT an item! So she has decided that she has no name, and has made no effort to remember Number 00-5673. Though for some reason, it never left her memory.

"Well why don't you retire me? I'm too short, aren't I?" Countless times, she had been reviewed as flawless, except for one thing. She wasn't tall enough. She was 4'5.5", and they had expected her to be just like a lionesses, who can reach lengths of up to nine feet.

The whitecoat knelt down so that he was almost eye to eye with her. "You are one of the most successful specimens here. If not, then /the/ most successful. Your shortness is only because of your age. Or it could be those house cat genes kicking in. We're not exactly sure, but we know that it can't be helped. You were shorter than we had originally expected, yes, but were not starting over. Not again. Your sisters and brothers weren't good enough. You're the closest we have to perfect."

She frowned. "But what about-"

"Numbers 00-5670, 71, and 72? We tried to modify their genes, but we're discovering that it's hard to change an organism once they've left the womb." He smiled, and she wanted to throw up right there. All over his expensive shoes. "You should be glad that you turned out so wonderfully." He reached out a hand and stroked her cheek and she pulled away. "Come on, now." He stroked her cheek again, and this time she turned her head lightning quick and bit his hand. She bit down hard, sinking her teeth into his hand. She didn't stop when she tasted blood. "AH!" The whitecoat managed to pull his hand away and to his chest and began rubbing it. "Ah...fuck..."

She smirked, licking his blood off of her lips. "Language, please."

He narrowed his eyes and glared at her. Without averting his gaze, he gave an order to the Eraser who was holding her arms behind her back and pressing her to the floor. "Take Number 00-5673 back to her crate." He stood and at this point looked into the morphed Eraser's blood thirsty eyes. "We'll run some more tests in an hour, once I dress this wound." He spat the word 'wound' in her face.

Her eyes widened and she gasped, images of her XL size dog crate all the way across the School popping into her head involuntarily. Damn her senses! The Eraser stood her up and as soon as she got to her feet, she had begun kicking and struggling even worse than before. Her eyes were full of fear and dread as she screamed in horror, "No! NO! You can't do that! Y-you-! No! No!" She tried her hardest to pull her arms from the Eraser's grip and felt tears prick at her amber eyes as they didn't budge one bit.

The Erasers smiled as they saw her face. The whitecoat turned on his heel and walked away from them, silently enjoying her screams.

She stopped her struggling as she realized that it was useless and defeatedly submitted to the Eraser and let him lead her to her crate. She thought for a moment and got an idea. She only had one more way out of this. It was crazy, but perhaps it was just crazy enough to work.

As they walked passed an open door - the same one that had almost hit her - she noticed that there was a silver plate on a small table by the door. It was full of sterile instruments used for things like...surgery and...injections. She shivered at the sight of the tools and then twitched her tail over to the plate. The Eraser glanced at her tail and didn't think anything of it. Big mistake. In one lightning quick move, she shoved her tail downward and the instruments went flying. The empty needle hit the Eraser holding her right in his eye. Talk about dumb luck! He released her immediately and pulled the needle from his eye and threw it to the ground. He fell and held his hand over his eye, screaming from the pain. She was able to hit sixty and run from the other two Erasers following them before they could process what had happened, just like before. Their IQ was just a tad bit below normal. They bolted after her, but she was already far from them. She ran down the hall and into the lobby, which still held ten Erasers. The whitecoat was in the elevator and, just as the doors were closing, he spotted her and yelled at the Erasers a command. "Get her!"

They were already after her, even before the whitecoat had given the command. They all lunged at her and she realized that there was no way she was going to be able to run through them. So she jumped on the empty receptionist's desk and leapt from it. She practically flew across the room, hissing and baring her feline fangs with legs and arms outstretched in front of her and her claws unsheathed. She landed right square on an Eraser's barreled chest. He stumbled backwards from the force of the impact and fell over at the sudden pain of her claws digging into his tough skin. She barely shed his blood on his chest, but when her lion fangs sank into his muzzle, blood splattered all over her face. She wiped it off quickly. He yelled in pain and shoved her off of him, and she used the push plus her own power to leap off him and fly to another Eraser several yards away. She dug her claws in and bounced off of him and to the next Eraser, then to the next, getting closer to the window. They all tried to grab her, and they all missed her by a whisker. One of them was able to scratch her down her thigh, but she didn't flinch. She shoved with all of her might from the final Eraser and tilted her head down so her face or ears didn't come in direct contact as she busted through the glass of the window.

She took in a deep breath and smiled for the first time in Lord knows how long when she felt the cool, fresh spring air hit her face. It felt like an eternity, but only lasted for a second as she noticed that she was falling from a double story window. She stretched her arms and legs in front of her, like how a cat's instincts work, and aimed for a tree nearby. It worked; she successfully landed in the tree. The impact hurt her at first and she felt pain shoot up her legs and arms, but it was slight, brief pain that lasted for only a quick second. And even though she wanted to stay and relish the clean air, she knew that she had to run. So she ran. She leapt down from the tree and ran. On all fours, of course, just like when she was being chased in the School. Because she is 49% feline, her arms and legs are the same length. For any human, their legs are longer because they run on only their legs; but she runs on all fours, and her arms and legs are the same length so that she can manage running.

She didn't know where she was, but there were a lot of buildings and people nearby. She hoped to high Heaven that they weren't all Schools and that these people weren't all whitecoats. As she passed them at sixty miles per hour, she was able to get a small whiff of them. She guessed that they were okay because they smelled clean and...scared. She was getting some pretty shocked and horrified looks from the people that she passed. But who could blame them? A short eighteen year old wearing a crappy white gown jump through a second story window and land in a tree unharmed and then run down at the street at sixty miles per hour on all fours with claws, ears, and a tail isn't the type of thing that normal people see everyday. It was at that moment that she remembered what the Eraser had said to her. She could see his partially morphed face in her head, snarling and saying, 'People on the outside don't like freaks. They'd kill you.' She began to panic even more and switched her senses on and searched five miles in front of her to find a safe spot where she could rest and catch her breath.

There! She found it! There was a dark crevice between two large buildings and there was a huge trash bin she could hide behind. There was a bunch of other really big trash items that the people obviously didn't want, so she would be well hidden for now.

She ran and ran, and after about five minutes of passing horrified faces and listening to the people's screams, she finally reached it. She ran into the safety of the shadows and slammed her back against the brick wall next to the giant trash bin. Her breathing was fast and irregular, and she took a moment to calm herself down and regulate her breathing. She took several deep breaths then shut her eyes and sighed.

She slowly fluttered her eyes open and immediately tensed up. She had a strange feeling; it was as though she was being watched. Like she was invading some one else's area. Or that could just be her paranoia. She glanced around and didn't see anybody, but the feeling didn't go away. She decided that it was better to be cautious, and already began looking for a different hiding spot. She looked around and didn't see anything. Or anybody. She looked behind the giant trash bin and noticed a door. It was wooden seemed very old. She switched he senses on again and searched the inside.

There was no one there, no one had been there in a long time. It was two stories high, but was only one story. There was one area though that had stairs leading up to it, and it had a little hut looking thing on it. It had two windows on it, and either one was broken. The door looked wooden and weak. It must've been an office at some point. Either way, it was completely empty now. Some of the windows in front had been busted, but it didn't matter to her. There was no furniture either, save one wooden crate a little bigger than her dog crate at the School. It was completely empty save a few mice, sturdy support beams, and dust. Lots of dust. Afternoon light flowed into the abandoned building and made it look, to her, very comfy and cozy. The idea of having a whole /building/ to herself, and an /empty/ one at that! It was /so/ much better than her dog crate! And it was free of whitecoats, Erasers, needles, clamps, tests, and everything else at the School. Hell was now over. Or at least, it was for now. But she didn't want to think about that. She wanted to explore her new home in person.

Still feeling another's eyes, she stood from where she was and winced as she felt pain in her right thigh. It was the scratch the Eraser had given her. She examined it and sighed. It was almost healed by now, and all that remained was a faded scar. She had an amazing healing rate, and it always came in handy after situations like this, but never during tests. It inly drew their curiosity further. She shivered and shrugged off the thought, then gripped the giant trash bin. She pulled on it and shoved it aside with one gentle stroke. Huh. Apparently it wasn't as heavy as she thought it was going to be. But she just shrugged her shoulders and kicked open the door, then walked inside.

It was exactly how she had seen it in her head, and in person it looked even better. She couldn't hide her smile as she ran about the room, on all fours, and leapt to the rafters. She laughed as she leapt to a stray rope hanging from the ceiling and dug her claws into it, swinging on it and then off it and to the ground, landing on all fours like all cats do and swishing her tail back and forth in excitement. She ran on her feet and hands up the stairs to the second story high platform that held the small, empty office. She stood up on her feet and leaned against the railing on the edge of the platform and gazed upon her home. It was empty, but she didn't care. It was empty, it was quiet, and it was all /hers/.

Just as quickly as she had ran up the stairs she ran down them and over to that crate near the bottom she picked it up and threw it to the top of the stairs, then ran up the stairs herself and followed it. She wasn't exactly used to running on just her legs. She could stand just fine, and walking she could just barely manage, but carrying things while walking or going up stairs or running on just her legs were out of the question.

She stood in front of the door to the office and kicked that open also, breaking the lock in the process. As she saw before, it was completely empty save a layer of dust. She walked on all fours over to the box and nudged it with her head, but not her ears, into the office and into the center of it. This, she decided, would be where she slept. And she liked it. No, she loved it. She absolutely adored her new home. As empty and dusty as it maybe, it was her home, and she loved it.

She gasped as a thought popped into her head. She remembered that when she was looking at this place, she saw two entrances: the front door and the back door, the one by the giant trash bin. That door she knew that no one would enter, as long as she kept it blocked off when she left. And the front door...she didn't know. She shut her eyes and reached out her senses to the front of the building to see. There were wood planks covering it, but she had to reach further, just to be sure. She looked into the lock and saw that the front door was locked, and it was a touch lock. There was also a padlock on it, so a human would have some trouble getting in quickly and without her knowing it. She opened her eyes and turned around, leaning her back against the railing. She slid down to her bum and sighed contently.

She was home. For now.

A few miles away, a man with slick blonde hair and piercing blue eyes sighed and rubbed his temples, shutting his eyes in frustration. He was doing paper work in his home office. Half of it was in English, and the other half was German. This man, Ludwig Beilshmidt, was a German himself. And so was his older brother, Gilbert Beilshmidt.

And it was at this moment that the silver haired albino came bursting through the door, causing Ludwig to jump.

Gilbert quickly tried to catch his breath as he made frantic hand gestures. "L-Ludwig! You gotta come see this!" He ran back out of the room and left the door open, coaxing him to follow.

Ludwig sat at his desk and blinked, then a second later he had leapt up from his chair and bolted into the next room, the living room, and saw his older brother standing in front of the television holding the remote in his hand. "What is it? What's wrong?"

Gilbert looked at his younger brother and then turned his gaze towards the television and used his free hand to point at the screen. "Look!" He hit a button on the remote and turned the volume up.

It was the midday news and there was a woman on the screen sitting at a desk with papers in front of her. She was sitting with great posture and had her hands folded in front of her. She had long black hair that was pinned up behind her head and made her look proper. The tab below her said in all caps, 'STRANGE CREATURE SPOTTED'. Blinking frequently, she continued talking about the story. "We have no knowledge of the current whereabouts of this creature, but we do have this amateur footage of it from a source that wishes to remain anonymous." The screen changed and played the video, which looked like it was captured by a cell phone from an apartment window. A creature in a white gown ran down the sidewalk on all fours; it looked human. Ludwig's breath caught in his throat as he noticed several features that revealed that it most certainly was /not/. The woman continued to speak as the ten second video replayed over and over. "As you can see, this creature seems to have pointed ears on its head, and a long tail flowing out behind it. Some say that this is a prank, but the evidence here says otherwise." The video paused and the creature was blurry. A red circle on the screen was circling the things that the woman mentioned. "The legs and arms are the same exact length, and our legs are longer than our arms. Also, the ears seem to be /attached/ to the head itself. But if they weren't, and neither was the tail, then it would've come flying off. The creature you see here has clocked in at sixty miles per hour. No human could ever run this fast." The screen changed and flipped back to the woman, whom was still sitting with great posture. "We now go live to the scene with Kristen Flass. Kristen?" The screen changed once again to reveal a sharply dressed woman with curly blonde hair holding a microphone.

"I'm standing here outside of the IST office building that the creature supposedly leapt out of a double story window from. I have an eyewitness that is willing to share his experience with us." The blonde woman held up her microphone to the man next to her. He was an African American and was wearing a baggy hoodie and sagging jeans. Two of his friends standing behind him. They were all smiling, seemingly excited that they were on the news. "Can you explain to us what happened?"

The man made dramatic hand gestures as he spoke. "Okay, well I, I was just walking along here, right? Just going to see my girl. And then...this /thing/ just jumped from that window."

The man's friend spoke up, stepping in front of him. "It landed right there in that tree, and then just took off running. It looked like a pretty sexy chick-"

The first man finished his friend's sentence. "But she was a freak!"

"What did she look like? Other than the ears and the tail, I mean."

The man tried to remember. "Uh...let's see..."

His other friend started talking again. "She had curly brown hair!"

"Yeah, yeah! Long, brown, curly hair. And um...she was really short, too. Like, /really/ short."

"Yo, didn't she have claws, too?" His first friend asked.

"Yeah! Claws and hella sharp teeth."

Kristen pulled the microphone back and spoke into it as she looked into the camera. "Well there you have it. A short, brown haired woman with teeth, claws, ears, and a tail just jumped from a double story window of this IST building and took off running down the street at sixty miles per hour. Back to you, Shannon."

The screen now showed Shannon, sitting at her desk. "Cat woman in our little town. So is this a hoax? Or do they live among us? Shannon Drew, news at noon."

The screen switched to a brown haired man wearing a fancy suit and sitting in the same position as Shannon. He held papers in his hands and was looking down at them. "Thank you Shannon." He looked to the camera. "In other news..." Gilbert turned the television down and turned to his younger brother.

"That's amazing..." Ludwig breathed, eyes wide. He blinked, the wonder leaving his eyes. "But it's probably fake."

Gilbert ignored Ludwig's comment. "Brüder! You know what this means, don't you?"

He stared at him. "No..."

Gilbert threw his arms in the air. "We've gotta catch that thing!"

Ludwig blinked and took a step backwards. "W-what? But it's not even real!"

Gilbert put his arms down and chuckled. "Bro, of course it is! Didn't you hear that guy? No one would lie on the news! /And/ they had /footage/ of it!"

Ludwig pressed his fingers on either side of his nose. "That footage was fake and that eyewitness was lying."

"Ludwig! Come on! Please! If we catch this thing, then we can turn it in to the police and become famous! Plus, wouldn't it be cool to actually see it?"

"But it's not real."

Gilbert grabbed his younger brother's sleeve and began jumping up and down. "Please! Please! Please! Please! Please!"

He tried to ignore his brother, but it was hard. At times it seemed as though he was the younger brother, and that Ludwig was older. He was more mature, that's one thing. "Gil. Gil, stop. Stop it."

But Gilbert only continued, jumping up and down and pulling on his sleeve. "Please! Please! Please! Please! Please! Please! Please!"

"Stop! Gilbert!"

He started yelling. "Please! Please! Please! Please! Please! Pleas-"

"ALRIGHT!" Ludwig shouted.

Gilbert let go of his sleeve and jumped up high in the air. "Yay!"

Ludwig brushed off his sleeve. "If you'll shut up, then yes! We'll try and catch her."

Gilbert put his arms down and blinked. "You said her."

"And?"

"It's an it. It's a freak."

"No!" Ludwig yelled defensively. "She's a she!"

Gilbert held his hands up. He had no clue what had set his brother off, but he didn't want to make it worse. "Calm down man."

"Gott." Ludwig sighed and sat down on the couch.

Gilbert did the same, except he didn't sigh. "So what's the plan?"

Ludwig looked into his brother's ruby red eyes. "Why are you asking me? It was your idea."

He put his finger on his chin. "You're right." Gilbert paused and thought for a moment. He knew how he could get Ludwig to think of a plan for him. "And besides, you'd probably come up with a crappy plan anyways." Reverse psychology.

Ludwig frowned and narrowed his eyes. "What's that supposed to mean?" He asked slowly.

Gilbert shrugged his shoulders. "You're not very good at strategy."

"Yes I am!" He replied quickly.

Gilbert only laughed. "Gilbird could do better than you!"

Ludwig stood up, furious. "No, he could not! I was a military commander for Christ's sake! I'll make the best damn plan ever! We'll catch her in no time!"

Gilbert tried to hide the smirk that was growing on his lips. "And what is that plan?"

Ludwig held up a finger. "First, we have to locate her." He held up another finger. "Second, we have to monitor her find out her weaknesses." He held up a third finger. "And lastly, we attack." Gilbert raised an eyebrow as he continued. "That's a vague overview of the plan."

Gilbert couldn't hide his smile any longer. He knew that this plan was going to work; he knew that his brother was excellent at this kind of stuff. Granted, there might be others looking for it, but at least he has a military man on his side. They'd catch her in no time.


	2. Chapter 2

She stretched her senses outside, trying to detect anyone outside her home. It was dark, and the moon was high in the sky. The stars twinkled like thousands of tiny diamonds. Within a five mile radius, there was no one. Well, not no one. There were two people out, one man with blonde hair and another with silver hair, but they were a ways away and just talking under a lamppost. She didn't try to listen in on their conversation because she didn't think it was worth it. She retracted her senses and jumped up onto the railing before leaping off of it and down onto the concrete flooring. She walked on all fours across her home and to the back door. She stood up and slowly pushed it open. She was still cautious, because what if she had missed something? She shut the door behind her and shoved the giant trash bin in front of the door. She didn't want anyone to sneak in.

There was a reason she was going out tonight. And she was reminded of it as she walked in front of a puddle. She saw her reflection, curly hair and cat ears. She saw her tail swishing behind her and her teeth, the way they gleamed in the moonlight. A wave of frustration and anger washed over her as she once again remembered the Eraser's words.

'People on the outside don't like freaks.'

Out of fury, she splashed her hands into the puddle and clawed at it, splashing more and more the angrier and angrier she got. She started to make grunting noises as she tried to destroy her image, which evolved into roars.

Why couldn't she be normal? Why couldn't she be human? Why did she have to be...this?! She wants to be human, to live like the humans. She's not a freak, and she doesn't want to be treated like one! Why isn't she human? Why did they have to change her DNA? Why does she exist? Her splashing and roars slowly died down as her anger turned to sadness. She collapsed right in front of the puddle, her head resting on her arms as she cried. She cried as she tried to think of a reason for her existence. She couldn't. She had no clue why the whitecoats at the IST had to change her DNA to 49% feline. They do tests to try and make humanity more advanced and to make their lives easier, but how can your life be easier if you're half cat? Half dog? A brain on a stick with a robot body? A being with your organs on the outside of your body? How does this help humanity in any way?!

Slowly, her sobbing creased to a halt as she calmed herself down with a series of deep breaths. She was used to this, to crying uncontrollably and then calming herself down. She would always cry at the School, and, of course, no one was there to comfort her. She only had herself. That's how it's been, but she hopes that that's not how it's going to be. She began walking down the sidewalk as she kept thinking about how she wants to fit in, to become human. But, of course, that could never happen. Her DNA will forever contain 49% of feline. She can /appear/ human, though. She can hide her tail and ears and claws and such. Then she'd be able to walk around amongst humans, and they wouldn't be afraid. They wouldn't be scared of her. Her, the freak. The no-named freak.

She shook off her sadness as she arrived at her destination. At the School, they had taught her to read and speak Italian and English. She believes thar it would come in handy when trying to escape the many Schools all around the world and try to find her own IST-free home. There was no way she could stay here. Yes, she had thought she could, but then she thought some more and realized that there was no way she could stay. It was way to close to the School. But anyways, knowing Italian and English also helped her to read the store signs. And this particular one...well she couldn't quite tell what it was called. Perhaps there are some things she just can't read. The font was all messed up...it looked like there was an 'h' here and a 'z' there...she didn't quite know what it was. But it was a clothing store, and that's all she needed to know. She could see the clothes from the window, and wanted to have them all. But she could only take one outfit for now. As she smiled brightly and looked excitedly through the window, she tried to think of a way in that wouldn't set off any alarms. Her tail twitched excitedly behind her and her ears were perked up and aimed forward. She propped herself up on her back legs as she pressed her hands to the window, claws making tiny clinking noises as they collided with the glass. She was too excited to think of a way in.

She was also to excited to remain cautious, and she had forgotten to keep her senses on to check her surroundings. That was a mistake.

"Dude! There she is!"

Her ears swiveled around to catch the loud, excited whisper.

"Shut up!" A second voice immediately scolded.

She gasped and turned around. Her heart stopped as she saw the two men from before, the ones that were chatting under the lamppost. How stupid she was for not listening! Her eyes widened and her mouth hung open as she started at them in disbelief for a second, shocked that they had snuck up on her. They seemed to be carrying a net and some sort of gun that shoots colorful, fluffy darts. Her tail stiffened and her ears fell back as she recognized the gun. It was a tranquilizer gun. They would use them at the School quite often, sometimes on her, sometimes on a mad Eraser, or sometimes on an experiment gone wrong. Whatever the reason, she didn't like the tranquilizer gun. She also saw him holding a wired looking gun that she didn't recognize. As soon as the blonde man slowly advanced a step, she ran. But she didn't run away, no, she was tired of running and she didn't want these men to mess with her ever again. She knew she had to teach them a lesson.

She jumped onto a giant trash bin on the side of the clothing store and then to the roof of the building. The men stared at her in awe as she stood proudly atop the building. The silver haired man shoved the other's shoulder with his own, and the blonde haired man got the message and aimed the tranquilizer gun at her. He tried to get a good shot, and right as he had lined up with her and was about to hit the trigger, she leapt from the rooftop. All the way from the rooftop, across the street, and to the two men. The blonde man, looking through his scope, didn't see where she was until he lowered his weapon and saw her, claws at the ready and fangs bared as she aimed right for him. Just like with the Eraser. She landed directly on his chest, knocking the wind out of him. But she wasn't going to kill him. Not yet. She merely dug her claws into his chest until she felt blood. Which was soon, actually. She smirked. Humans have such thin skin.

She leapt off of him and to the sidewalk across the street, right in front of the clothing store. She landed on all fours, of course, and started at the stunned man as he scrambled to stand back up quickly. He re-aimed the tranquilizer gun and his the trigger right as she leapt up again. The dart didn't hit anywhere but the ground, and she didn't like that. She didn't like the gun. So as soon as she landed on him, she knocked the gun right out of his hands. It flew aside about five feet, and he stared at it, and then back at her. She scratched his face twice as soon as he turned his head to her, and then she leapt from him to the silver haired one, whom was just standing there like an idiot. She knocked him over and pierced his face. He screamed, but she didn't stop. She was just about to leap off, but her wrists were squeezed by an unseen force. She turned her head and saw the angry face of the blonde man. She squirmed and squirmed, and she managed to loosen his grip some, but he immediately grunted and tightened it.

He spoke in a heavy German accent to the silver haired man. "H-hurry! I can't hold her much longer!"

He blinked and stood to his feet, grabbing the chain net and throwing it over her. The blonde man jumped away just in time, and she used that split second to also jump away, but the metal chains held firm. She growled and tried to lift them. But the men held it to the ground with their feet.

"We actually caught it!" The silver haired man exclaimed, a big smile on his face.

This statement filled her with a new kind of anger. How dare this man call her an /it/?! This anger came from the tip of her toes to her mouth in a roar so loud that it stunned the two men. With her newfound strength, she shoved both of them off and the net as well. From there she ran, but a few seconds after she had started running, she heard a shooting sound and felt a sharp pain in her left thigh. She let out a half yelp, half roar and fell onto her stomach. She looked back for only a second and saw the blonde man holding the strange gun. She didn't waste time thinking about it and scrambled back to her hands and feet and started running again. She didn't care where she went, she just had to get away and figure out what the good looking man had shot into her. Wait...good looking?! What was going through her head? Maybe it was the thing he shot into her. She kept running until she found herself home again. Her legs had apparently carried her in a huge circle around the neighborhood because she ran the exact opposite way she had come. She sat down outside her back door and tried to catch her breath. She reached out and found them in front of the shop. This time, she listened to their conversation. She needed to know what that man had hit her with, because there was no blood or anything. It was as though she has never been hit; this was an insane healing rate even for her. She shut her eyes and angled her ears towards them to hear better.

"Dude! What the hell?" The silver haired one asked. He had fiery red eyes that captured her attention. Maybe he was from the School too...? "Why didn't you shoot her with the tranquilizer dart?!"

"Because," the blonde one answered in a calm tone. But she could tell that he was holding back his frustration. "Now we can track her."

"But brüder, what good'll that do?" He whined.

The blonde one, whom she guessed was named 'Brüder', looked out into the distance, in the direction that she had ran. He had a slight longing in his eyes that was hard to detect. It was as though he was trying to wish her back. He spoke slowly and half to himself. "She's interesting, that's for sure. And I don't want to give up the chase just yet. I want to have some fun."

The silver haired one ignored how out-there the other sounded and kept complaining. "But we were supposed to /catch/ it!"

She scowled at his remark. How dare he call her an /it/! She knew what she was, and he didn't have to rub it in!

"Trust me, we will, Gilbert." Brüder reassured in his deep and heavily accented sexy German voice.

She blinked. Sexy?! "What the hell is wrong with you, brain?" She put a hand on either side of her head and shook her head. This caused her to lose focus on the two Germans. She tried to reach out to them again, but they were gone. She pulled back and just shrugged. She looked back at her leg. Yes, it was completely dark, but she was 49% feline. So she had night vision, of course. She saw no mark at all on her thigh. She thought back to what Brüder had said, 'Now we can track her.' So it was a tracking device...shit. She rubbed her thigh and then stood up and shoved the giant trash bin out of the way. There's no need to worry now, she'll freak out in the morning, when she tried to think of a way in the clothing store. Maybe Brüder will come in handy after all... She pushed the door open and took a step inside before shutting the door behind her and falling onto all fours. As she walked up the stairs and to her basket - that's what she decided to call it, because 'crate' brings back to many painful memories - she thought about what Brüder had meant by saying that he wanted to have fun by trying to catch her. She wondered what he was trying to say...she gasped. Was her doom something he enjoyed? She shook her head. No, that's not it. Or is it? At this point, she didn't know. She curled up into her basket and yawned as a lion would, showing off her fangs before resting her head and closing her eyes. Whatever Brüder had in store for her, she was ready. Perhaps she could stay here for just a little longer and have some fun, too. It's been so long since she's had fun, anyways. And besides, she'll never get caught.

She smiled at her confidence. "I accept your challenge, Brüder."

And with that, she closed her eyes and received a deserved sleep, forgetting all about the tracker. That was a mistake.

She opened up her eyes and found that she was strapped down to a cold, hard, metal table. She blinked a few times, her eyes adjusting to the sudden light that had shown bright in her face. She tried to pull her arms up to shield her eyes, but the restraints held tight. She lifted her head and looked around the room. Her eyes widened and a tsunami of fear and terror washed over her, drowning her within her memories of the School and all its horrible, terrible things that they had claimed were for science. Her breathing quickened as she saw the familiar walls, ugly and bare, and the instruments and tools that they had used on her. A gloved hand forcefully shoved her forehead downward and she only panicked more. She looked over and saw the back of a whitecoat; he was fiddling with the tools. He turned around and revealed a long needle full of a green substance that she didn't know.

The man laughed manically and she gasped when she saw his face. It was unmistakably Brüder's. The slick blonde hair, the piercing blue eyes that were as cold as ice...there was no mistaking it. And when Brüder spoke, all of her nonexistent doubts were out to rest. He used his finger and pulled down the mask that was covering his mouth, revealing a wicked smile. In his thick German accent, he said, "Just relax, this will only hurt...a lot!" He laughed evilly and slowly moved the needle towards her throat.

She tried to break free, but the cuffs of her wrists and ankles wouldn't budge. She began to scream 'no', and that was when she woke up from her horrible nightmare, her eyes snapping open and her sitting up as she continued to yell. She looked around and saw that she was safe, so she stopped yelling and tried to settle her breathing. But as soon as her heart had slowed, it sped up again; a bunch of different thoughts were running frantically through her head. But they all narrowed down to one thought: she had to get away. She had to leave as soon as possible. Brüder was one of them; her dreams had never been wrong when they were warning her of danger.

She jumped out of her basket and hopped onto the railing. She sniffed the air. Something wasn't right. She leapt from the railing and onto one of the hanging ropes. She grabbed it with one of her hands and rested her two feet on the large knot at the end. Looking through a large window, there seemed to be no trouble. She reached her senses all around the front door; no one knew about the back entrance but her. She didn't see anything wrong, so she dropped down from the rope and landed on her hands and feet in a crouching position. She walked over to the back entrance and opened up the door.

Greeting her were two loaded guns, one a tranquilizer and one not, aimed right at her forehead. It was the two men from before, Brüder and Gilbert. They each had the look of a cold, hard killer in their eyes.

"Thank you for giving away your location," Brüder spoke slowly, "now, if you'll just come quietly...?"

She gasped when she saw them and when she didn't respond, they each took a step inside of her home, the blonde one a step ahead of the other.

"B-Brüder..." She whispered. She was right. He was a whitecoat. Oh, but only if her dream had warned her sooner! She could've been gone by now, outta here!

"What?" Gilbert asked. "Speak up, Frau. And no funny business! You make one move I don't like" - he shook his gun slightly - "and I won't hesitate to put you out."

"And I won't hesitate to kill you," Brüder growled, his words stinging like ice. Piercing ice, just like the cold glare of his blue eyes.

When she didn't do anything, didn't speak up, didn't put her hands up, didn't fight back, only stood there in utter shock, Ludwig yelled her commands at the top of his lungs. "Get on the ground!" If you want something done, what better way than to do it yourself?

She blinked and then made a noise that sounded something like a confused growl.

"I said get on the ground!" Ludwig shoved his gun forward and shot the ground right next to her left foot, causing her to jump up and roar. Her tail stood stuff and her ears fell back.

Something clicked in Gilbert's mind and he nudged his younger brother. "Maybe it can't understand English."

This sent anger shooting through her. She was about to yell at him about how she wasn't an it and how she knew English and Italian, but Brüder started walking towards her. He gave his heavy gun to Gilbert and pulled out a handgun as she approached her without hesitation and with an open palm. She made a fist with her hands and raised her left arm, unsure do what he was going to do next. She made a tiny mewling sound as well.

Brüder grabbed her arm and squeezed it tightly. He turned towards Gilbert. "Keep the tranquilizer aimed at her." Gilbert nodded and Brüder put his hand gun away. He started to pat her down to check for weapons, but she didn't know what a pat down was. Brüder started to pat up her inner thigh and she scratched his face and jumped back.

"Get away from me, you pervert!" She yelled, her arms covering her chest and her legs crossed.

Gilbert and Brüder both blinked and stared at her blankly. She blinked too, but only because of Brüder's face. The scratches from last night had healed, they were all light, but this one didn't look like it would. It was a scar right across his left eye that was bleeding really bad. Oh well, he deserved it.

"Holy crap you can talk!" Gilbert exclaimed.

They had been so baffled by the fact that she had just spoken English that Brüder didn't even notice all the blood until Gilbert said something.

"Brüder, you're bleeding!" He handed Brüder a ripped piece of his clothing. He rubbed his eye with it, and luckily her claws didn't scratch his eyeball, just his eyelid. As he was tending to his wound, he questioned her. "You...you can speak English?"

"And Italian! And I'm not an 'it', I'm a she!"

Gilbert raised an eyebrow. "Can you speak German?"

She laughed mockingly. "'Course not. You know that."

Gilbert turned to Brüder. "Diese Hündin ist heiß~! Sie sollten ficken ihr."

Brüder stared at him, horrified. "WAS ZUM TEUFEL?!"

Gilbert laughed. "I'm just kidding! I'm just trying to make the most of the moment. You and I both know it's not true." Brüder sighed.

Gilbert laughed again and turned back to her. "What's your name?"

She blinked. "Uh...y-you should know that. Or are whitecoats just that stupid?"

Brüder looked at her and cocked his head. "White-"

She put her hand in the air an interrupted him. "Wait, no. Whitecoats /are/ that stupid. You all are. Torturing me and countless other 'science experiments' since birth! You're all just a bunch of retards."

Brüder grabbed his heavy gun, immediately steamed that she was insulting him. "Alright, enough. We came here on a mission, so if you'll just come with us, that'd be great."

She shook her head. "No way! How'd you find me, anyway?"

"A tracking device I shot in your-no, no! That doesn't matter. Just, come on."

"Hell no!" She jumped up and grabbed a rope. "I'm not going to just 'come'." She giggled. That sounds dirty. "You have to catch me first."

Brüder ripped the tranquilizer gun from Gilbert's grip and lifted it up to her. He looked through the scope and snarled, "Or I could just shoot you."

She leaped to the next rope. "How about no?"

"Alright." Brüder pulled the trigger and a second later, she felt a sharp pain in her right shoulder.

"Ow..." She cringed, her muscles feeling suddenly weak and her vision blurring. She gripped the rope loosely. "Y-you...can't catch...me..." She slurred out, her grip loosening by the second before she finally let go completely and felt herself falling towards the ground on her back, wind whisking past her ears and through her tail. Then everything went black.


	3. Chapter 3

She woke up sometime later, but didn't open her eyes. She was afraid. She was afraid of the School. She didn't want to see it! Even if they'd operate on her eyes and accidentally make her blind, she wouldn't care. She just couldn't stand it. She couldn't stand the horrors, the nightmares, the pain. Oh, the pain! Hell had never sounded better. And the devil? Even he'd be a little spooked. This was a place where death came as a blessing.

She heard the hushed yelling that was a quiet whispering battle between Gilbert and Brüder that was taking place on the other end of the room. She squeezed her eyes tightly shut and rolled over and curled up into a ball, covering her face with her tail and mentally preparing herself for the pain.

"Look who's awake," came Gilbert's voice. She heard his footsteps as he walked across the carpet and stopped in front of her. He must've knelt down because his voice was right in her face. "You can open your eyes, frau."

She shook her head and curled up tighter. "No! Si sono solo andando a farmi del male! Non voglio vedere! Non voglio vederti!"

Gilbert placed his hand on her head and she flinched, pulling back a little. She expected him to grab her hair and pull her somewhere, or perhaps just to drag her around, just to have fun and see her reaction. Ugh, whitecoats are sick!

But instead of pulling on my hair, he gently rubbed my head. Slowly and soothingly, he spoke and said, "I have no idea what you just said, but come on. You can open your eyes."

She still didn't do it. She heard Gilbert's clothing rustle and felt his hand pull away as he stood up. He walked off and into the next room, sighing. He waved his hand to Brüder as he passed him. "Well, I tried. You give it a go, and come and get me when you've had some sense knocked - or scratched - into you."

Brüder sighed like his brother and walked over to her. He knelt down in front of her and she immediately got tense. She didn't like Brüder. She didn't like him one bit. First off, he was a whitecoat. Second if all, he made her feel weird. Like, bad weird. It was in the pit of her stomach; it felt like butterflies. That are dancing on hot coals. And are on crack. And-

You know what? No. He's not even worth it to explain.

She tried to keep her cool, she really did, but when Brüder reached out his hand, she nearly lost it. When he touched her head, she did lose it.

She screamed and shoved - not scratched - him away. "Get away from me, Brüder!" She shrieked.

Brüder fell backwards onto his butt, as he did not expect her to suddenly last out. And with such strength! He also froze and stared blankly at her. Gilbert came running into the room and halted in the doorway.

"/What/?" Gilbert asked, clearly baffled. But why, she didn't know. "Is there something Folkert didn't tell us?! Like, that he had sex with a cat?!"

Brüder ignored Gilbert and pushed himself back up onto his legs, he was on his knees now. "W...why would you call me 'brüder'?"

"That's your name, /stupid/!"

He shook his head. "No. It's not."

Gilbert laughed. "Who's the stupid one now?"

She turned to him and leaned against the armrest of the couch that she was on. Yeah, a couch. Not a dog crate. Not at the School. Go figure.

Her tail lashed back and forth as she engaged in an epic argument between Gilbert and herself. "You are, /stupid/!"

"Don't call the awesome me stupid, /stupid/!"

"Stupid!"

"Stupid!"

"Stupid!"

"Stu-"

"Enough!" Brüder yelled, standing upright. This was another reason that she didn't like him. He was too loud! He turned to Gilbert. "Brüder, you're old enough to not do that, so be mature!"

She cocked her head and pointed to Gilbert. "Wait...so /he's/ Brüder?"

The blonde man shook his head. "Nein. Brüder is German for brother." He gestured to Gilbert. "His name is Gilbert Beilshmidt." Then he pointed to himself. "I'm Ludwig Beilshmidt."

She narrowed her eyes. "...those sound like whitecoat names." She glanced around. "So why aren't I at the School?"

Gilbert laughed. "Uh, because it's Saturday!"

Ludwig ignored him. "Which school do you go to?"

She thought for a moment. "Um...IST."

"That's not a school."

"Yes it is!" She suddenly snapped. "At a School, there's pain and torture and horror! At IST, the whitecoats make this lives and then they destroy them through torture! We are items to them! They don't even give us names! Just numbers! Number 00-5673, that's me! I'm labeled! Labeled! Everything that they do, all the tests and the pain, they claim is a test for science, and something that will one day benefit mankind. But please, explain to me how an am organism with its organs on the outside of its body helping society? Or a brain on a stick? Or how about a useless human animal hybrid like me and my siblings, huh? Huh?! They made me run and fight and they injected me with drugs and chemicals. I prayed for death every single day of my life! Its a blessing at that place! And get this, to them, we don't have emotions! We're not people! We're just things that the whitecoats can test on, and are sometimes no more than chew toys for the Erasers! A School will hurt you badly, physically and emotionally! So if that building isn't a School, then I don't know what is!" Sometime during her speech she had stood up, and at this point she had fallen back onto the couch and was panting. She had been yelling and talking quickly.

"Oh. Shit." Gilbert managed to say. He was just completely baffled and was at a loss for words. For once.

"And so, you..." Ludwig started. "You were calling us whitecoats /why/?"

"I'm an escapee! Why wouldn't they send out someone to find me? In surprised that I haven't seen an Eraser yet! And why else would you guys be trying to capture me?"

"That's kind of what we were discussing earlier," said Gilbert. "Ludwig and I, we originally wanted to turn you in and become famous, but now all of a sudden Ludwig doesn't want to!"

Ludwig sat down beside her on the couch, and Gilbert pulled up a chair. Ludwig looked directly at her with pleading eyes. "Please, tell me everything about your life at the School."

And so she did. She told them everything about their horrible tests, how she came to be, her powers and skills, the whitecoat's horrible failed experiments, the Erasers, what IST stands for, the successful experiments, her most vivid memories of the School, her pain, her siblings, her plan to escape, how she escaped, about how she wants to run to somewhere far away, everything. She told them all she knew.

When she was finally finished, Ludwig stood up. "That's it! Gilbert, we are /not/ turning her in. Over my dead body will that happen! We're going to help her escape."


End file.
